In a flavoured syrupy base Phensedyl contains
codeine-phosphate, chlorpheniramine maleate and ephedrine in variable
amounts. The 'magic' substance in the Phensedyl syrup is
codeine-phosphate, and this eventually makes users addicted to the drug.
The presence of ephedrine hydrochloride in Phensedyl creates high blood
pressure and can cause sudden death due to cardiac problem or heart
failure. Without realizing the harmful consequences of the above chemical
agents many Bangladeshi youths feel that it would be smart and fashionable
to take Phensedyl.

As a result of the gap between Bangladesh and Indian
pharmaceutical (medical) policies Phensedyl has caused massive addiction
problem amongst the Bangladeshi youths in recent years. Phensedyl is
produced in India licitly, but banned in Bangladesh, Nepal and Philippines
for its sedative properties. This variation in the Indian medical policy
has encouraged many cross-border traffickers to increasingly smuggle
Phensedyl into the black markets in Bangladesh. The enormous supply of
this drug from across the border has created an epidemic with an estimated
1.5 million Phensedyl addicts in the country.

Enveloped from three sides Bangladesh shares a 4,144
kilometers long border with India, which is dotted by smuggling routes for
Phensedyl and other contraband items. In this underground trade many
cross-border drug syndicates are involved. However, the manufacturer
Rhone-Poulenc authority claims that its production is domestic
'market-share' oriented rather than for any export market. Narcotics
control authorities in India also maintain their ignorance about any
information in regard to the production of illicit Phensedyl along
Bangladesh borders. With the frequent seizure of contraband Phensedyl by
law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh, the extent of cross-border drug
trade has become increasingly evident during the last two decades.

In pursuance of colonial drug policies of the
nineteenth century Indian manufacturers rather have created an external
market for Phensedyl in Bangladesh. It can be recalled here that
throughout the nineteenth century the supply of contraband opium from
India had created addiction problem for 30 per cent of the Chinese
population. For running Phensedyl traffic Indian traders are copying
British traders who owned most of the private companies that took part in
the Indo-China opium trade. Recall that to stop the supply of opium from
India the Chinese Emperor, as early as 1800, had issued an edict
prohibiting the import of the Indian drugs altogether. As in China in the
previous century, the increased supply of Phensedyl from India has
continued in violation of Bangladeshi laws of 1982. So much so that it is
now vandalizing the credibility of the legal measures in Bangladesh.

Contemporary Bangladeshi reports suggest that alongside
the licit production, classified traffickers along Bangladesh borders were
producing low grade Phensedyl. In April 2000, Brahmanbaria Shangbad
reported that to meet the growing demands in Bangladesh fresh Phensedyl
factories started running in Agartala, the capital of northeastern state
of Tripura. These factories mostly manufacture impure Phensedyl to feed
Bangladeshi teenagers. Being attracted by the fabulous underground market,
Indian drug traffickers were also selling 'date-expired and waste
consignments' of Phensedyl, which were then expeditiously sold to
country's customers. Like the nineteenth-century Chinese addicts, who
could only afford adulterated opium, the Bangladeshi addicts were mostly
grabbing impure Phensedyl. The hazard of adulterated Phensedyl was twice
that of normal cough syrups.

As a result of the large profit margins achieved from
Phensedyl trafficking, the trade has augmented tremendously. In India, the
maximum retail price for this medicine is about Rs.29 for one bottle,
while it sold in the bordering districts between Tk.60 and 70, and in
Dhaka for Tk.120 or even more. Consequently, once available only in 100ml
bottles smuggled into Bangladesh out of India, Phensedyl can now also be
found in large barrels, or plastic drums and containers, which smugglers
then supply in bottles to the local market to meet the enormous local
demand. In an attempt to combat cross-border traffickers, the BDR
personnel sometimes arrange 'Flag' meetings with the Indian Border
Security Force (BSF) authorities, when the former agree on measures in
vain on drug traffickers with their counterparts in India.

As happened with the Indo-China opium trade during the
nineteenth century, the economic value of the Indo-Bangladesh Phensedyl
trade is mounting. Recall that the Government of British India had earned
annually from the foreign market total opium revenue of Rs38 million in
the mid-1850s. A similar commercial trend is evident in the
Indo-Bangladesh Phensedyl trafficking in recent years. Contemporary
reports reveal that the annual distribution of Phensedyl in the Dhaka City
crossed 20 million bottles at the turn of the twentieth century. Given
that the average cost for each bottle of Phensedyl in Dhaka being about
Tk.120, Tk.6.6 million worth of Phensedyl was sold each day and Tk.2,400
million every year in the capital city alone. This amount of money was
almost half of the total annual budget of the Dhaka City Corporation.
Given the size of the contraband trade in Phensedyl throughout the
country, and the cumulative costs of its sedative impact the users, a big
threat has been created for the country's economy and the health of its
younger generation.

As in India, the patent medicine industries in England
and the US in the late eighteenth and throughout the nineteenth century
had used opium alkaloid under various brand names. These drugs were
popularly known as Dover's Powder, Laudanum, Ayer's Cherry Pectoral, Mrs.
Winslow's Soothing Syrup, Mc Munn's Elixir, Magendie's Solution, Godfrey's
Cordial, and Hamlin's Wizard Oil etc. A similar patent trade was also
evident in Turkey and Iran, where pharmaceutical industries marketed opium
lozenges with religious labels: Mash-Allah, and the 'Gift of God'. As it
happened with the opium and morphine content of these medicines in the
West and elsewhere, information about the psycho-physical and bio-chemical
reactions of Phensedyl has been ignored by chemists and manufacturers in
India for commercial purposes.

In a flavoured syrupy base Phensedyl contains
codeine-phosphate, chlorpheniramine maleate and ephedrine in variable
amounts. The 'magic' substance in the Phensedyl syrup is
codeine-phosphate, and this eventually makes users addicted to the drug.
The presence of ephedrine hydrochloride in Phensedyl creates high blood
pressure and can cause sudden death due to cardiac problem or heart
failure. Without realizing the harmful consequences of the above chemical
agents many Bangladeshi youths feel that it would be smart and fashionable
to take Phensedyl. Many of them abuse the drug to forget the grim reality
of their existence. As a result of the continued misuse, the addicts are
becoming victims of many physical ailments: irreversible damage of brain
cells, hallucination, manic depression, heart disease, cancer, liver
damage and ultimately dying. Despite the availability of medical evidences
that the drug has devastating consequences on the body's vital organs,
very little is known to the outside world about the escalation of
Phensedyl menace in Bangladesh. The country needs a comprehensive approach
to address this cross-border issue of a complex nature.

Dr. M Emdadul Haque is Professor of Political
Science, Chittagong University